The chairman emeritus of Tata Group, Ratan Tata shared his views on the debate whether governments policies should support only all-electric vehicles or even hybrid vehicles to promote adoption, calling for legislation that supports all technologies.
The octogenarian said that he hoped that governments and the automotive industry should take a “measured view” on the vehicle driving systems of the future.
“The jump to all-EV is difficult, especially without omnipresent charging infrastructure,” he said on social media platform Instagram. “The approach should realistically legislate the different types of propulsion systems and our journey to electric vehicles can always be supported by improvement in IC Engines and introduction of hybrids.”
Interestingly, Tata Motors has stayed away from hybrid vehicles technology so far and put their weight behind an all-electric approach.
Senior officials at the Tata Group car-making company have several times said that hybrid technology is a natural evolution of present day cars as emission norms get stricter. There is no need to incentivise hybrid technology as carmakers will have no alternative but to make hybrid cars to meet corporate average fuel efficiency targets in the future, they argued.
Electric vehicles, on the other hand, need an entirely different ecosystem and come with a very steep price tag, hence legislative support is required to kickstart the adoption of these vehicles, they have said in the past.
Acting upon this conviction, the Tata Group of companies came together to launch their own EV ecosystem where several companies handle aspects related to their sector. While Tata Motors makes electric vehicles, Tata Power would set up the charging infrastructure and Tata Chemicals would make the batteries. Tata AutoComp has invested in making components for EVs. Several other group companies too are a part of this initiative.